Lisa, >From were I see you are a brave and daring lady!. It is always much easier to fight in clean settings (and have you ego "shoe shined") .... and one more thing: I love your stories. They always make me laugh and they always make me learn thank you Tova Averbuch
Holon, Israel [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Lisa Heft Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 5:26 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Open Space (sort of) at the 13th International AIDS Conference Dear wise, thoughtful, playful, kind and courageous colleagues I am now back from facilitating in and for the International AIDS Conference, which was held in Barcelona, Spain in July. An amazing experience. For one, the people who work against this horrific epidemic. Scientists, activists, parents, survivors, policy makers, sex workers, and people with HIV disease sometimes all in the same person. You walk across to world to meet each other (people come from every country and culture, from all over the globe, from the poorest village to the biggest cities) and though you are each unique, you share a common sense of sharing in life and death experiences you share an intimacy before youve even met. It was also a magical experience of standing next to someone on the steps, turning to meet them and discovering that you both do the same thing and that person is exactly the right person for you to have met right then Whoever Comes Is the Right Person and Be Prepared to Be Surprised, indeed. Plus, we were blessed at Closing Ceremony to hear the eloquent words of two former Presidents, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. Both passionate fighters for health, access and dignity for all. As for the facilitations: Id come to facilitate skillsbuilding workshops in 1) how to take in and process all the information overload of a conference and 2) strategic planning for vulnerable communities. We repeated the workshops in English, Spanish and French for both topics (I don t speak French, but I helped with logistics and waved my hands a lot). For the Community Forum session before the official conference opened, the conference also asked me to take on the role of being the lead facilitator of a team of 30 international facilitators, in a process which I inherited from someone whod designed it a process that I didnt wholly agree with. How would you help 1500 people from all places and languages network with each other in two hours? Im sure you have some OST-style ideas. Their (the planners of this community forum) idea was to have everybody stand under a banner of their continent, with a contact sheet in hand (their goal was to make 5 contacts). They also wanted people to break into interest areas of: Prevention, Treatment and Care, Youth and Young People, Gender and Sexuality, Vulnerable and Marginalized Populations, Mobility and Migration. Great topics, and they reflect the different issues identified by conference organizers. Originally 60 facilitators were supposed to circulate to make sure that people made contacts one-to-one or in groups of no more than three people and to encourage them to move on to another group periodically to make their total of 5 contacts. Mimes would also circulate throughout the gathering to help people find their way. So you can see how I put this through an Open Space filter. Not that OS is the only way; its just that their process seemed so similar yet there was so much control that it might limit greater possibilities. Well, to make a long story short (hmmm all my stories are long stories ), we merged our thoughts to create an adapted method, with a handout in three languages and simple graphics indicating the 4 steps participants could take (Make a sign with your question/issue/topic of passion/interest, wear it or wave it, people of similar interest will find you, feel free to bumblebee around). We 30 or so facilitators wore signs that said May I help you? in all the languages we spoke, and circulated about in the manner of a host introducing people of similar interests at ones own cocktail party. Some of us facilitators added other topics to their signs, such as Ask me where the restrooms are and Kisses, 50 cents) Some participants made many marvelous connections; others felt they never really knew what was happening and took care of themselves by going home to rest (many had just arrived and were totally jet-lagged, and the morning had been a series of speeches). A great success. Although I think it would have been better with a ritual / formal opening and closing, as in Open Space Technology. So I experienced a little ego-bruising when some of the great facilitators looked back at the experience as perhaps needing a bit more opening and closure. Because in our compromise with the original design, the organizers did not want Open Space. I just snuck in what I could of the OS elements. So it looked like I was the lead in a process I designed which was not entirely transcendent. Heh. Lisa lived. L i s a H e f t Consultant, facilitator, educator O p e n i n g S p a c e 2325 Oregon Berkeley, California 94705-1106 USA (+01) 510 548-8449 [email protected] www.openspaceworld.com
